Following on from Part 1 where I posted excerpts from a webinar hosted by Amanda Gome, founder and publisher of the business E-newsletter Smart Company (www.smartcompany.com.au) called “Women on Top-How to Get There”.

In this installment, we examine how your skills can make or break the deal

Here are the 3 tips on the subject of Skills:

TIP 4:

USE YOUR SKILLS TO CLOSE THE DEAL

I think you have to have that bit of ruthless streak in you. You have to train yourself to do that ‘take someone by the throat’ kind of move in a nice way. But I think women are quite good at it. I think women are often seen as having these great powers of empathy and introspection and I think that they can use those in dealing with people.

If you’re in a meeting where you want someone to do something or you want to close the deal, you use those tools to close the deal, to read body language and understand where that person is coming from and use it. Diana Gribble

TIP 5:

DEVELOP YOUR OWN SKILLS

Treat yourself as if you’re a product of a business. If you are responsible for a brand in a business, you would sit down and say what’s my business plan for the brand?

So it’s doing the same thing with yourself. I want to achieve this position, so I need to have financial skills, I need line management, I need strategic thinking. Then you ask how am I going to collect those along the way? What are the different types of roles?

And actually talking about it and planning it with your respective family and with your respective employees.

If you want to be promoted and want to have a long-term view, really think about yourself and how you’re going to develop yourself and then go out and negotiate and get people to share that vision with you and agree to take you on that journey. Gillian Franklin

TIP 6:

IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE SKILLS, DON’T PRETEND

People shouldn’t try and pretend that they have skills that they haven’t because you will be caught out. I think what you should do is say this is what I love doing, this is what I think I’m good at. If I’m not good at it, I would like to be. I’ll go out and figure out how to get those skills.

This brings in the whole role of mentors that I think women do particularly badly. So you need to go and talk to people who have been there, done that and say give me advice. Ask them how they did it. Gillian Franklin

My 2 cents worth:

Regarding Tip 5 where Gillian Franklin poses the question of branding with respect to you the person, I am with her 100% of the way.

As a female executive, do you actively and consciously project your brand.

So my question to you is, What do you stand for?

Do you make yourself known as the person who wants the job every other person is vying for, and what have you done to distinguish yourself from the rest of the herd?

The reality is that even if you have done a terrific job to date, you still need some shameless self promotion to get your message heard and your brand noticed by the powers that be.

Ask yourself if you are up for it.

If not, email me and I can suggest some techniques that will get you over your self -consciousness.

Julie Steelman knows a thing or two about selling; by choosing to see her sales role as one of giving overwhelming value and service to her clients it has made her debt free and allowed her to retire (at a very young age) to tropical Hawaii.

If you want proof, how about being able to generate $100 million in sales (this is not a typo) from clients such as Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, CBS Sony and Universal Pictures.

And this is when most people are struggling to make commissions and targets.

In her new book “The Effortless Yes: Get the Sales You Want and Make All You’ll Ever Need”, Julie shares her “a ha” moment after the very lean first two years in the business.

Her Road to Damascus moment can be summed up in one sentence, “It’s not about you, it is about the customer”.

Julie Steelman Interview (unlinked)

Julie’s advice: “Get over yourself because it is not personal; you’re here because you have something unique to give that can make someone’s life a lot better”.

Can’t argue with that kind of logic.

So if you have been finding the whole “selling” thing awkward, uncomfortable and downright icky (a technical term in the sales game), do yourself a favor and invest in Julie’s years of wisdom and practical know how-NOW!